Web Getting Sophisticated in Emerging Markets

New findings from the most recent Emerging Markets Development Survey by Evans Data Corp. (EDC) suggest that Web developers and users in emerging markets such as Eastern Europe, Brazil and India are getting more advanced. According to EDC’s survey of more than 400 developers worldwide, developers are using Flash and AJAX, a sophisticated Web applications development method, at higher rates than their North American counterparts.

“The significant implication is that people are leveraging those capabilities to provide a much richer user experience on the Web,” EDC President John Andrews said. “We’re starting to see people migrate away from static Web pages and Web pages that have to be filled in, and they’re going toward much richer, more robust, more user-friendly activities. The implication is that the Web is starting to transform itself back to almost the pre-Web, where people want more feature functionality and interactivity at their disposal. We see this both in the PC world and the mobility world.”

The exception to the trend seems to be China, which has the lowest adoption rate with a little more than 16 percent. This is very similar to the North American level: just below 18 percent.

“We can guess that it’s an immature market in terms of the Web, but that’s about all we can point to right now,” Andrews said.

China also falls below the norm in use of the PHP scripting language, with about 21 percent in that country using it. About 39 percent of developers in Eastern Europe and about 31 percent of those in India are using PHP, as well as 35 percent in North America.

“I think the whole area of scripting languages and where they can be leveraged in the development model is still somewhat immature,” Andrews said. “I think the scripting language world is just starting to take shape right now, and that’s why there are disparities across the region.”